"In humility, I realized I am a child
of all nations"
Pramoedya Ananta Toer,
Child of All Nations, The Buru Quartet

On the morning
of Thursday 9th September a bomb exploded in front of the Australian embassy
in Jakarta. According to the latest reports, eight Indonesians lost their
lives. I am saddened by this act of
incommensurable atrocity and stupidity.

Last week
I was planning to travel to Spain for a PhD student defence examination.
My friends and relatives were asking me not to visit a country recently
the theater of a terrible drama. The bomb in Madrid railway station took
nearly 200 lives. In spite of their, and, I must confess, my worries,
I decided to go to Spain to do my job as an academic and a professional!

There is
no safe place in our world - this is what the perpetrators of these acts
of violence want to signify. Join us in letting know that we, students,
researchers, and professionals, believe that international collaboration,
education, and science are conducive and necessary to peace
and progress. Join us in letting know that we will continue to do our
job. Join us at IIWAS and MOMM 2004 in Indonesia.

As it has
always been the case with the previous IIWAS events in Indonesia, our
work takes place in a safe environment. Our local hosts always make sure
that the delegates can work in serenity as well as
they can peacefully enjoy Indonesia, its people, and its culture. This
year, the local organizers from Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University
(UIN) are looking forward to welcome you and are putting a lot of hard
work for your satisfaction and comfort.

I hope to
see you in Indonesia not only because it is the most effective way to
deny the bombers the benefits of their action and to refuse to be told
by them what to do, but also for I first and foremost believe that you
will have a safe, productive, and enjoyable sojourn.

Best Regards,Ismail

Here
are few responses we received so far to the message of the
president of @WAS.
Thanks to all who expressed their solidarity and sentiments

-------------------------------------
Assalamualaikum Dr. Ismail,

I am a bit shocked to hear about that. But as a Muslim, I adhere to
the believe in Tawakal to Allah. So I guess there shouldn't be any
problem with me about going to the conference. Thank you.

R.
Sadananda (PC member)
Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand
----------------------------
Dear Dr. Ismail,
I will be there in Jakarta.
Anything can happen anywhere, it is not in our hand.
I believe it will be a great conference.

Regards
Sri Devi (author)
Malaya University, Malaysia

-----------------------
Dear Ismail, dear colleagues,

I fully share your thoughts and hope we will be able to build a
better
world for all soon.

All the best from Madrid,
Yolanda Ursa (author)
INMARK
Madrid, Spain
-----------------------------

Ismail,
I could not agree with you more.
This year I will not atend IIWAS. I am teaching this period and
already
will go the conference in Erfurt (NetObjects, MATES, CIA,...) at
the
end of this month.
Maybe I will make it again next year.
Good luck and have a nice time!

I was
not planning to go (I have no paper in the conference) but I
certainly share your thoughts; the world is a hard place to live.
Even in my country Argentina, we had suffered bad publicity: in
fact
ICSE 2002 was planned to be held in Buenos Aires but it
was suspended by the organizers because they said that our country
was
not safe.
I hope our world will improve in the future when all of us feel
safe
and equal.
Meanwhile we have to understand all situations (even difficult ones).
You have my support in your claims.

Yours

Gustavo
Rossi (PC member)
LIFIA-UNLP, Argentina

--------------------------------------
I totally agree with you and please accept my sincere sympathy for
the
lost lifes.

It
is unfortunate that a tragic event takes place just before the
conference. I am not sure of how you are handling this situation,
but
have you checked the current travel advisory of the various
governments? If not, you might want to give the embassies a call.
An
affirmation of travel safety by the embassies would be very useful
here! Do your hotel arrangements contracts allow for these unforeseen
circumstances? I had to handle a situation with SARS in 2003, so
I
can understand the situation that you are facing. Feel free to give
me a ring if you need any assistance.
C. J. Kenneth Tan, Ph.D. (PC member)
OptimaNumerics Ltd. UK

-----------------------

Ismail,

Thanks
for your email. Look forward to seeing you in Jakarta.

-Ian

Ian
Douglas (author)
Florida State University
-------------------
thank you for your concern and encouraging letter. yes, i agree
with you
totally.
see you at bali.
sellappan (Auhor)

---------------
Hi Ismail,

Unfortunately,
as I previously stated, we're unable to attend because
our
University won't permit us.

I trust
the conference goes well, and share in your despair about the
terrible news.

Thanks
very much for this - and for your note about the importance of
not being intimidated by terrorism. Unfortunately, the University
simply won't give authority to travel to Indonesia at present. We
do
hope to see you in a future iiWAS :)

Thanks
again,
Saied. (author)
RMIT, Austrlia
--------------
Dear Prof Ismail,
I am extremely sorry to hear about the incident and also read about
it
in the papers today morning.
Though I would not be able to attend the conference since I don't
have
the funds for inter-national travel right now - I wish the conference
all
success. I wish all luck to the organizers.

It's
indeed a sad news. We all feel sorry about that and admire your
determination.

Almost
right before I decided to personally attend the iiWAS2004 with
the
financial support from my company, we heard of the bad news.
As you may remember, I can attend to the conference having the
financial support from my company. But now my boss recommended me
to
ask if the conference can be moved on to a less confused place.
After
all, a peaceful venue can keep attendees and their family from being
worried about any possible disturbance.

In
case I don't attend to the conference, I will transfer the rest
of
the registration fee - US$ 25. But is it possible for me to get
the
receipts of the two tranfer fees between banks, in addition to a
formal
registration receipt from the iiWAS.

Thanks
for your nice job to render the whole proceedings and the
preparation for the conference. I'm also sorry for the late response
because of the busy job.

I'm
really sorry and feel regret to hear such a thing happen in
Indonesia,
neighbor country to my Vietnam. Our country also had period of war
with
the
America but we had not ever acted like that. I sometime cannot
understand
why they chose the way of such unreasonable behavior to solve the
conflict
and harm innocent victims.

Regarding
the conference, I did sent you email about my problem on my
business schedule some days ago before this event that I can not
attend
the
conference (please see the attached). It's no reason but only about
my
schedule conflicts.

Although
I agree with your sentiments, Monash University has taken this
out of our hands: today the deputy-vice chancellor sent out an email
forbidding Monash staff to travel to Indo until at least the 24
September.

I guess
we need to work out the consequences of this, but I thought you
should know as soon as possible

Thank
you for your Email.
There is one voice in me speaking and feeling exactly the same words
as
you
have written in your email,
and there is another voice which is very scared.

As
I am visting the CIT conference in Wuhan, China, before coming to
Jakarta,
I had to decide yesterday afternoon, whether I will go to Jakarta
or
not.

Due
to the news about the explosion in Jakarta, my scared voice got
really
strong, thus I decided not to come to Jakarta.

Thank
you very much for all your help and all your engagement, I am
very
sorry for not coming,
and looking forward to see you some other time.

Best
Regards,
Sonja (Author)
Austria
-------------------------
I, as an Indonesian, appreciate your stand on this issue
which will help us dealing with the situation. Thank you.

--
Bobby (PC member)
UI, Indonesia

------------------------------
Dear Ismail,

I am
now getting a permission from my university to go to
Indonesia. Unless political situation gets rather worse
I can get the venue, I think. However, it's a pity that
I cannot join the full conference. Perhaps I will leave
Japan on Sep.27.

I guess
your work is serious especially this year. I am
really anxious about your health. At the same time I am
looking forward to seeing you soon.